370-Windows Network Proposal

Introduction

Crete LLC is one of the prime manufacturing companies located in the USA.  The corporation is involved primarily in the production as well as the distribution of Solar panels for the existing customer market. The corporation has three primary branches that are situated in Dallas, Los Angeles and Huston and it is making considerations on expansion to the rising demand for solar panels in its markets and beyond.  The prime management of the organization will situate management employees in both Dallas and Houston offices for effective management of operations.  In this context it is more likely for the corporation to highly benefit from the implementation of a robust 2012 windows server. In that, the corporation will be utilizing the features offered by the server on the subject of management and administration.  Data security is an important feature that is needed by the corporation in saving public reputation (Carpenter, 2011).

Windows server 2012 offers more features that will directly benefit the corporation by addressing its needs (Carpenter, 2011). The implementation will, therefore, offer the corporation with authoritative new opportunities that will be associated with agility, flexibility as well as success.  The serve is additional effective in cutting costs and it is more flexible since it will permit the corporation to move serves at ease without moving their physical structures or systems (Carpenter, 2011). The servers come with a large storage which will highly benefit the administration since the necessity to purchase SAN which is normally expensive will be eliminated.  The current network proposal is an analysis of server 2012 implementation at Crete LLC which will include a design for handling domains, data security, windows setting maintenance and remote offices access while simultaneously focusing on the objectives of the corporation.

Active Directory

Crete LLC has numerous sites which are located in a large and a beneficial geographic satiation.  The geographical location, therefore, necessitates the utilization of a regional model for domains.  Since the corporation has three locations this means that the domains will thus be broken into the working environment of the users in its three different branches.  From this it is clear that there will be three distinct domains which are a representation of Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles city.  The utilized strategy will, therefore, enhance the capability of maintaining regional administration that will be responsible only for the users within their location network (Finn, Lownds, Luescher, & Flynn, 2013).  With this deployment strategy it will challenge to develop decisions on the forest root domain which may create biases.  In order  to  increase fairness  of the developed  decisions the  corporation may  utilize a domain that  acts as the forest root which will only contain the administrators accounts without  representing the users. Other locations will therefore be selected as regional domain branches in the structures of domain. 

The root office, in this case, will be Houston administration office while LA and Dallas domains will remain to be regional branches.  This strategy will permit the corporation’s domain to acquire and sustain environmental stability in the long-term. In regard to the names of the domains, the Houston one will be regarded as Houston.crete.com, Dallas.crete.com for the domain in Dallas and LA.crete.com for the Los Angeles domain.  The regional domain allows the creation of a fresh forest domain each time after introduction of a fresh location thus permitting free flow of connection (Finn, Lownds, Luescher, & Flynn, 2013).

To allow the corporation in reducing its general cost WAN lines domains traffic will be reduced which will be attained through the utilization of the three locations as the controllers.  This will be useful in reducing the procedures of accessing the domains which will, in turn, play a part in the increase of productivity.  Since the primary offices of the corporation are situated in Houston and well as the office in Dallas the domain controller in LA will be a read only. This controller is beneficial to the company branches that necessitate reliable, speedy and vigorous clarification services.  The security necessity in the domains will be useful in the prevention of consumption of domain controller.  The Houston office will accommodate the prime controller domain with the utilization of an Access server Remote as the primary administrator of all the operations. For recovery as well as data backup a backup aspect is required from the Window’s server which should situate on and offsite or a more secure location site.  In order to avoid the occurrence of errors, data loss and misrepresentation backups should be conducted on an often basis to increase flexibility, accuracy and reliability (Finn, Lownds, Luescher, & Flynn, 2013). This will also be essential in offering protection to data which is highly needed by the corporation in attaining efficiency and a good image in its market and beyond which will facilitate its objective to expand (Finn, Lownds, Luescher, & Flynn, 2013).

Group Policy

A group policy is a crucial component that is required in enhancing the security of a network.  The accounts should have the ability to rename the administrator’s account for flexibility if any physical change is required in the three locations which can be achieved with the utilization of a GPO feature (Hester & Henley2013).  However, this feature is highly opposed by managers since it is termed to be providing better grounds for a win for the hackers (Hester & Henley2013). However, this strategy is not as vulnerable as it may seem since the corporation will install full security measures to ensure that the change of account name is accomplished by providing several personal and security details.  It will, therefore, be very hard to hackers to prosper since the information will only be available to those responsible.  Understanding the account's username does not solve the existing puzzles for the hackers.  In addition, guest accounts will be disabled since the accounts hold no feature for installation of security passwords.  The GPO strategy is additionally useful because it have the capability of blocking user’s passwords thus enhancing data protection (Hester & Henley2013).

The application of group policy permits administrators easy management of operations throughout their networks (Hester & Henley2013).  Crete LLC will primarily necessitate tools suite from a Microsoft office any particular designing software’s for unique solar panels that are needed by the users.  The applications, as well as more others,  can be pushed  through the utilization of a group policy while maintaining hierarchical accuracy to ensure that only the authorized computers and users make the installation of such applications (Hester & Henley2013).

DNS

Crete LLC will be utilizing a DNS that is broken-down in offering protection for data and well as the corporation’s integrity.  The DNS that is fully broken will ensure that it is easy for the clients as well as the users in surfing through the intranet as well as the internet. This is an approach that is objected at increasing the general efficiency of the project.  The effectiveness of this strategy will necessitate the implementation of virtual servers which will be two for the case. The Namespace DNS will utilize a simplified design that is easy to memorize and access for both the corporation's staffs who are the users as well as the consumers in the market.  The namespace that the corporation should implement is Crete.SolarEnergy.com. The applications distribution with the utilization of server 2012 will automatically be simplified.

File Services

The system file will be situated on a distinct server which will have a specified IP address. Every user will be having their individual virtual drive which will primarily be for personal utilization.  The files network will be stored on a shared drive which will then be accumulated prior to the logging in by any particular user before starting.  The utilization of the resource manager file server will play an essential section in the general administration of the user’s drive as well as shares (Sivarajan, 2015). Each of the server’s users will generally be limited to a drive space of only 1.5 GB without any extension for their individual use to avoid misplacing the corporation’s data.  In regard to the share drive concerns, each of the involved department will be provided with the actual space amount that is necessary for the department based on the general needs and operations of each.  For instance, it should be noted that the sales department’s needed space cannot be compared to that required by the HRM department nor the finance department.  Each section has its own specified needs which will be handled accordingly by offering adequate space. This will ensure that data is not lost which may result in the rise of inaccuracies (Sivarajan, 2015). 

When the Quota limit is in the range of 85 percent volume a logging program will be designed for transfer of data which will include sending a direct email to the information department for immediate actions. FSRM can hinder the ability to save sounds and video documents which may be needed by some departments (Sivarajan, 2015).  FSRM will, therefore, be configured to suit the needs of those departments in need of both Sound and video sounds such as the development and research department. If the documented documents are over the limit of 500MB of the stored data a script can be implemented in order to erase the unutilized as well as the old data files that may not be required for operations in the organization. 

Remote Services

Moreover, there will be printers that will be located in all the sites with the capability of making prints from either site without compromising operations. This means that for instance, a sales department employee can  be able to make a print of a document in LA’s  location when they are in a different location as this will only  require security details  of their log ins. Crete LLC will, therefore,  be equipped fully  in order  to ensure that the competitors are fully  challenged to copy the strategy since  it will be utilizing the  latest form of technology that offers it a more competitive position.  Information availability is one of the primary reasons that results in the success of any business since this increases the capability of the corporation to implement strategies quickly before the competitors (Tulloch, 2014).  The above design will, therefore, offer the corporation with the capability to succeed in the competitive industry.  Crete LLC is highly equipped and ready for the energy market’s future.

WSUS

The servers will be stated in at a single location which will help in maintaining security and confidentiality of data. However, DNS servers will be allocated in all the three locations to enhance efficiency.  The primary servers will be situated at Houston which has less negative weather experiences which may impact the flow.  The deployment of servers will be achieved through the utilization of manual operation. This is useful at it enables a corporation’s network can be able to deal with certain issues which may rise in the process (Tulloch, 2014).  Clients and services will automatically be updated through direct email and posts made by the organization as notices on the operations.

 Figures

Figure 1: Domain Names and Location

Figure 2: The Working of DNS

            References

Carpenter, T. (2011). Microsoft Windows server administration essentials. Indianapolis, Ind: Wiley.

Finn, A., Lownds, P., Luescher, M., & Flynn, D. (2013). Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Installation and Configuration Guide. New York: Wiley.

Hester, M., & Henley, C. (2013). Microsoft Windows Server 2012 administration: Instant reference.

Sivarajan, S. (2015). Getting started with Windows Server Security: Develop and implement a secure Microsoft infrastructure platform using native and built-in tools. Packt Publishing Ltd.

Tulloch, M. (2014). Training guide: Installing and configuring Windows Server 2012 R2. Redmond, Wash: Microsoft Press.

Wifi Positioning System (WPS)

Executive Summary

The alternative of using a GPS for indoor navigation is application of WIFI positioning (Toloza, Acosta & Kornuta, 2013). This is based on the fact that GPS signal inside a building is quite exposed to different barriers since it cannot penetrate through concrete walls and other barriers.  The advantage for using WIFI positioning system for indoor navigation is that most of the buildings in the contemporary world of technology are installed with WIFI connection (Toloza, Acosta & Kornuta, 2013). Thus, this makes it effortless to locate WIFI access points with the building. Different factors are used to locate the position of the user within the building. These factors include access points, the strength of the WIFI signals within the building, and the media access control (MAC) (Agarwal, Singh & Sharma, 2014). However, in order for the user to access indoor positioning services, he or she must have a mobile app installed on the smartphone. The app will help in calculating the current position of the user using the data obtained from the WIFI connection (Agarwal, Singh & Sharma, 2014). The accuracy of using WIFI positioning system is determined by several factors which include the number of the networks available, shielding through walls, and reflections for instance in corridors among others. Typically, the accuracy of the system varies from 5 to 15 meters with regard to the preconditions of the building (Sapiezynski, Stopczynski, Gatej & Lehmann, 2015)). However, the accuracy can be improved using the sensor fusion where sensors are installed in the smartphone to enhance the process of locating the user. Generally, the major advantage of using WIFI positioning system is based on the fact that it is possible to identify the current floor level that the user is (Makki, Siddig, Saad & Bleakley, 2015). Therefore, this paper will access the functioning of the mobile app introduced in the project together with how it will contribute to indoor positioning t the target audience which will include students and people in commercial buildings.

Key Words; WIFI positioning system, access points, GPS, mobile app, accuracy      

Introduction

It is factual that with the influx of GPS, location-based mobile apps and services have increased significantly making it easy to trace where one is just in case one does not know the place. However, it appears that GPS fails once a person is inside the building (Guo, 2014). The reason why GPS tends to fail inside a building is based on the fact that signals are carried by waves at a frequency that cannot enable them to pass through solid objects. GPS appliances receive signals from a satellite where most of the times the frequency does not penetrate some solid barriers (Yuanfeng, Dongkai, Huilin & Chundi, 2016). Additionally, when the GPS signal is inside the building, it is exposed to a variety of barriers and interferences thus making it hard to locate the position of an individual. This is the reason why one ought to use an alternative method to site the location while inside the building. Therefore in this case, the alternative is WiFi positioning system (WPS). WiFi positioning system (WPS) is used in indoor positioning where specific data is transmitted to WiFi access point (Woo, Jeong, et al, 2011). Unlike GPA, WiFi is effective in that it sufficient, it provides back channel and in indoor positioning, GPS is not used.   ‘Received Signal Strength Indication’ and ‘Media Access Control’ are used together with fingerprinting method in helping the app to use a database and calculate the location (Mautz, 2008).  In order to get the accuracy in indoor positioning, factors such as available networks, walls shielding and more are considered.   In addition, accuracy is measured from 5-15 meters and sensor fusion can help to view the accuracy and unlike GPA, WiFi helps in detecting the floor level. Generally, this paper will focus on how the WiFi positioning system works together with the benefit of the WiFi signal connection.

It is perceptible that indoor navigation using WiFi is being significantly used in the contemporary number of projects (Yang & Shao, 2015). The reason is because there a wide variety of existing WiFi signals that can be used for indoor navigation. Furthermore, positioning requires the user only to enable WiFi connectivity in the phone without login requirements. Precisely, WiFi positioning system enables the phone to calculate the position of the user by combining the “fingerprint” of the available WiFi hotspot together with the data taken from accelerometers of the phone (Yang & Shao, 2015). Using the signal strength and the distinctive IDs of all the existing WiFi hotspot, the WiFi positioning system using the compass of the device is able to site the location of the user. These things are matched against data acquired from the area accessed through the internet or from data contained in the device. The estimation of the location can be effectuated if the device moves to some extent because WiFi positioning system’s algorithms is able to gather numerous fingerprints from the available WiFi hotspots (Van Haute, De Poorter et al, 2016). The accuracy is refined by the compass and accelerometer signals which capture the footsteps of the user as the device is moving around. However, it appears that the WiFi positioning system requires similar data to be gathered from the building ahead of providing location fixes of the same building. This means that another person with the same but special app should walk around the building several times (Van Haute, De Poorter et al, 2016). This helps the system redevelop the navigation area by capturing the patterns of WiFi fingerprints. As a result, the device is able to trace the map of the place so that the WiFi positioning system can obtain that data to spot the location of the user in the building (Petrenko, Sizo et al, 2014).

Under the basis of WiFi connection, it is factual that every WiFi access point starting from router, customer hotspot to internet- enabled point of sale system, transmits certain definite data (Petrenko, Sizo et al, 2014). Thus for WiFi positioning system, through Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) and Media Access Control (MAC) address, the mobile app is able to calculate the current position of the device user. This demands for a database with information regarding the specific location which can be compared with while spotting the position of the user.  This process is known as fingerprinting. Because of the technical restrictions of the operating systems of mobile devices, fingerprinting functions only with android operating system. Therefore, it is undeniable that WiFi positioning system cannot work with iPhone operating system (iOS). Under the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), the device is able to obtain various values of signal strength within the building. RSSI is a scale that is used to calculate power levels of the signal received by the device from a wireless network. Different positions have different signal strengths which make up a map of the building (Pathak, Palaskar, Palkar & Tawai, 2014). In deriving the position of the user in the building, the map is used to compare the signal power values recorded by the portable device and by comparing with the values in the map, the position of the user is identified (Helhel & Kocakusak, 2016). Precisely, the positioning using fingerprinting is done using two ways which include using neighbors where distance between RSSI reading points and reference points fingerprint are used to determine the position of the device, and use of statistical data of the fingerprint to estimate the position (Helhel & Kocakusak, 2016).

Generally, use of strength of network signal to calculate the distance of the user is called WiFi trilateration technique (Bobescu & Marian, 2015). This technique is broken down to Spherical Trilateration Algorithm which utilizes different factors such as frequency of the signal, address and actual coordinates of the access points, and signal strength among others (Bobescu & Marian, 2015). As aforementioned, the signal strength as received by the device can be used to determine the distance between the device and source of the signal (Sapiezynski, Stopczynski, Gatej & Lehmann, 2015). This means there has to be several access points within the building which can be used to determine the location that the mobile device is receiving the signal. The strength of the signal at these points varies exponentially which depend on the distance between the device and transmitter (Sapiezynski, Stopczynski, Gatej & Lehmann, 2015). Thus, this dependence is taken as a function of distance. The estimated distance using the strength of the signal is presented with a circle which represents the access point. The intersection of three circles provides the location of the device user.

Literature Review       

With the widespread encroachment of mobile internet which has resulted to extensive use of internet services, the demand on indoor positioning has increased tremendously (Rui, Qiang, Changzhen, & Jingfeng, 2015). This has resulted to development of different kinds of apps that support navigation inside the building where GPS appears to be ineffective.  Citing from the fact that GPS does not work inside a building, researchers have established ways of using WiFi networks to determine the position of an individual within the building (Rui, Qiang, Changzhen, & Jingfeng, 2015). WiFi indoor positioning has been successful because most of the buildings in the contemporary technological world are installed with WiFi network connections. In this case, the ordinary WiFi indoor positioning algorithm that uses fingerprinting is more effective since it does not depend on access points to estimate the location of the device user (Rui, Qiang, Changzhen, & Jingfeng, 2015).

However, it is factual that fingerprinting approach appears to face two major challenges regarding its application. One of the drawbacks includes time consumption during offline acquisition process to create a map of the building. The other challenge is based on the inaccuracy associated with fingerprinting approach (Rui, Qiang, Changzhen, & Jingfeng, 2015). The accuracy of the approach can only be determined at 2-5 meters. Precisely, indoor positioning can be broken down into three groups which include proximity algorithm, scene analysis algorithm and triangulation algorithm (Rui, Qiang, Changzhen, & Jingfeng, 2015). For proximity algorithm, the estimation of device position is done determining the relationship between WiFi checkpoints and target position in the building. As the device receives the signal from different access points, the position of the access point that exhibit strongest signal is regarded as the position of the device. On the other hand, triangulation algorithm uses principle of triangle properties where when the device receives signals from different access points, time and angle of arrival together with signal strength are used to estimate the distance between the device and access points (Makki, Siddig, Saad & Bleakley, 2015)). Lastly, scene analysis algorithm involves collection of fingerprints in the building which are used to estimate the position of the device using online data/measurements and the location fingerprints. Generally, these are the principles that are applied in development of WiFi positioning system.

Benefits of the App

• The benefits of the app using WiFi positioning system for the indoor positioning include the following;
• It promotes indoor positioning without using GPS
• It detects the level of the floor
• It estimates the position of the user within a large range – up to 100 meters (Kennedy, Kingsbury, et al, 2016)
• It can use any existing WiFi network
• Clients will enjoy a back channel

 The app is applicable in building navigation where GPS is basically inapplicable. For instance, navigation in complex buildings such as shopping malls, railway stations, exhibition halls, airports museums, hospitals, and industry buildings are some of the most potential places that WiFi positioning system app can be used (Zheng, Chen, Sun & Chen, 2016). Generally, the indoor navigation app enhances user’s services and minimizes the complexity of navigating in an unfamiliar building (Van Haute, De Poorter et al, 2016). However, the user is required to have a mobile device with android operating system. Some of the cases that the app can be used included while analyzing the walking routes and flows of the visitors, tracking the movement of goods, animals, vehicles and machinery, and navigating in buildings (Kennedy, Kingsbury, et al, 2016). It is noteworthy that to tack the movement of objects, WiFi tags ought to be instilled in the objects in order to be able to follow them (Helhel & Kocakusak, 2016).     

Functionality of the App

It is factual that the major function of the app will be displaying symbolic identifiers but not the geographic coordinates of the building. These symbolic identifiers that will be used by the app include room number and name. Furthermore, the position of the user will be represented by a red dot that will be displayed on the screen of the phone displaying the current location of the user on the floor plan of the building. The rooms are numbered and named with regard to the floor that the user is currently in as indicated by figure 1 and 2.

The user will be required to add the photo of the floor plan of the building in order to be able to locate him or herself within the building. In this case, the mobile app will use the WIFI scan to determine the location of the user using fingerprinting approach. After the scan, the app will both indicate the position of the user on the floor plan and name the location at the top of the plan as shown by figure 3.

The advantages of the app are based on the use of WIFI positioning system that works without GPS which means that it will not be affected by barriers such as concrete walls and others. Therefore, it will be easy to use the existing WIFI infrastructure which is sufficient in modern world and it has a back channel to the user. The other benefit of the app will be that it will have a large range of up to 150 meters and will be able to detect the floor level. Therefore, for the users, it will be easy to navigate all over the building thus making reaching the destination faster and effectively. Citing from the fact that the app will be accessible using mobile devices (except iOS devices), users will only be required to connect to the immediate WIFI signal and navigate the building without complications (Xi, Mingxing, Zhongwen, Naijun, Zhongwei & Jing, 2016). For the students, the app will be effective in ensuring that no time is wasted especially when one is not sure about the floor level of the destination in the school building. It is noteworthy that the app will promote time effectiveness which is a very imperative value in a learning institution.

Conclusion  

Citing from the fact that GPS signals fail within a building because it is affected by solid barriers, the most effective alternative is use of WIFI indoor positioning system. Using WiFi connection, it is possible to locate the position of the user within the building regardless of different floor levels. Using the fingerprinting method, a mobile app is able to calculate the location of the user using the data regarding the place obtained and stored in a database. The effectiveness of WiFi positioning system is based on the fact that it depends on WiFi connectivity which is readily available in most of the places and buildings. Therefore, using the WiFi signal the app obtains any relevant data regarding the place which is used in the estimation of the location of the user. Using that data, the app assesses the access points and through the strength of the signal, it identifies the location of the user. Thus, based on that concept, the app will be beneficial to the users in different ways such as identifying the location of the user without using GPS, detecting the floor level, estimating the position of the user within a large range of more than 100 meters, and offering a back channel to the user. Lastly but not least, the user will be able to easily identify the current position since the location will be displayed through symbolic identifiers rather than geographic coordinates. It is noteworthy that the app will enhance time effectiveness as the user is able to identify the destination prior to navigating the building.

Reference

Sapiezynski, P., Stopczynski, A., Gatej, R., & Lehmann, S. (2015). Tracking Human Mobility Using WiFi Signals. Plos ONE, 10(7), 1-11.

Makki, A., Siddig, A., Saad, M., & Bleakley, C. (2015). Survey of WiFi positioning using time-based techniques. Computer Networks, 88218-233.

Rui, M., Qiang, G., Changzhen, H., & Jingfeng, X. (2015). An Improved WiFi Indoor Positioning Algorithm by Weighted Fusion. Sensors (14248220), 15(9), 21824-21843.

Yang, C., & Shao, H. (2015). WiFi-based indoor positioning. IEEE Communications Magazine, 53(3), 150-157.

Van Haute, T., De Poorter, E., Crombez, P., Lemic, F., Handziski, V., Wirström, N., & ... Moerman, I. (2016). Performance analysis of multiple Indoor Positioning Systems in a healthcare environment. International Journal Of Health Geographics, 151-15.

Petrenko, A., Sizo, A., Qian, W., Knowles, A. D., Tavassolian, A., Stanley, K., & Bell, S. (2014). Exploring Mobility Indoors: an Application of Sensor-based and GIS Systems. Transactions In GIS, 18(3), 351-369.

Helhel, S., & Kocakusak, A. (2016). Improved Indoor Location Systems in a Controlled Environments. Telkomnika, 14(2), 748-756.

Bobescu, B., & Marian, A. (2015). Mobile Indoor Positioning Using Wifi Localization. Review of the Air Force Academy, 1(28), 119-122.

Pathak, O., Palaskar, P., Palkar, R., & Tawai, M. (2014). Wifi Indoor Positioning System Based on RSSI Measurements from Wifi Access Points: A Tri-Lateration Approach. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 5(4), 1234-1238.    

Woo, S., Jeong, S., Mok, E., Xia, L., Choi, C., Pyeon, M., & Heo, J. (2011). Application of WiFi-based indoor positioning system for labor tracking at construction sites: A case study in Guangzhou MTR. Automation In Construction, 20(1), 3-13.

Yuanfeng, D., Dongkai, Y., Huilin, Y., & Chundi, X. (2016). Flexible indoor localization and tracking system based on mobile phone. Journal Of Network & Computer Applications, 69107-116.

Kennedy, A., Kingsbury, R., Coster, A., Pankratius, V., Erickson, P. J., Fagundes, P. R., & ... Vierinen, J. (2016). THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT. GPS World, 27(6), 58-66.

Zheng, Z., Chen, Y., Chen, S., Sun, L., & Chen, D. (2016). BigLoc: A Two-Stage Positioning Method for Large Indoor Space. International Journal Of Distributed Sensor Networks, 1-9.

Mautz, R. (2008). INDOOR POSITIONING - AN AD-HOC POSITIONING SYSTEM. Geodesy & Cartography, 34(2), 66-70.

Guo, H., & Hong Kong Polytechnic University. (2014). A mobile-phone based indoor WiFi positioning system. Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Appendix

Figure 1;

Figure 2;

Figure 3;

Relationship between project manager, IT System Programmer, the Resource Developer and Business Manager in the project is on refunding federal student aid to students electronically

A project is an activity put on the plan with aim of achieving a specific goal. Project management which is successful is an art which exist where idea can be brought and can provide a well understanding of a certain project. In every project to succeed it must incorporate a project manager.  Most of the projects are faced with huge challenges of failure to achieve the targeted goal. In order for project managers to cope with these challenges he or she needs to incorporate other team players like Business managers and others,

In this case our project is to refund the student aid electronically as opposed to check. In order to achieve the underlined goal project manager will work closely with I T system programmer, Business manager and resource developer who will provide different expertise towards the project.

Question 1

Initially the project managers were the one with all the responsibility to coordinate, finance and to deal with technological issues in a given project but it was later discovered that with collaboration with other where the duties are shared according to specialization project are being achieved more easily. The article from BA times written by Richard Fox explains the relationship between the project manager and other business stakeholders.

According to the author (Richard Fox) there is evidence that the most Information and Technological projects have succeeded. The duties of a project manager lie within the project depending on time and the budget. There are like four elements of a successful project management which are resources, scope, time and money. I will support the source because it supports the basic elements of successful project management. For example business managers will make sure that the project is properly funded so that it can be completed in best time possible. The resource developer will be needed to manage the resources available so that they can be properly utilized to meet the target. The scope of the project will identify the best size of the project, the goals and the requirement to achieve those goals. The resources are very important hey incorporate people, material and equipment (Richard Fox, 2007). The time will be managed to according to task, schedule and critical path.  The motive of every project is to give estimate cost and make profit at the completion. In order for the project to succeed project manager must cooperate with others where duties of every individual is analyzed down and understood clearly.

Question 2

Critical path

Critical path are the task which are used to determine the schedule of project. These are methods used to identify things which affect the project at the completion. In our project of refunding federal state student electronically which involves a lot of technology will face a lot of critical paths as technology keep changing. For example, i have done survey of fifteen people on whether they are aware and whether can support this service of electronic money transfer. Where five people are aware and support the new project, seven are aware but they don’t support whereas four three were not aware of what is it (Chanas, 2001).

Table 1       

About 47 percent of the population is aware of the electronic money transfer but they are not willing to accommodate the project. So we are going to use the critical path and try to convince the about the advantage of refunding student electronically.

Another critical path is to train student on how to use this technology how they will be accessing their account for the refunds, training will help to create awareness and be able to make student see the advantage of this service as compared with old mode of payment used. A continuous training must be done to the staffs that are in the line with Information Technology department in order to meet the targeted time.

Lack of enough funds to finance the project because the project need a lot funds to purchase equipment Our project is dealing with diverting from giving student refund by use of check and we start making these payments electronically which need a lot facilities to enhance technological changes. The computers will be updated by buying software and hardware. Project manager will make a data to distinguish what is basic and essential to the project. The proper planning is needed to start budgeting with primary element of the project. A critical path will be made to identify things which will limit the completion of the project due to financial constraints.

Question 3

Critical tasks be deemed critical and why will they potentially have dependencies? Explain

The critical task will be very helpful in project completion by displaying them in a schedule. The project manager will be able to view, evaluate and come up with a solution very easily by use of these paths. He will determine the largest task which will limit the completion of a project within the stipulated time or not be able be completed at all.  In some cases it may not be very easy to see these critical paths when setting the schedule.

The dependencies are being made from several activities within the critical paths.  A manager can come up with modification from various critical paths. When making critical paths one must identify the dependencies first from a given activity to another one so as to make critical paths more easily. After the critical path has been displayed it will be able to allow the project managers to manage and track a specific activity very easy by looking to a schedule which give us highest indication that project may fail to be achieved at the projected date (Chanas, 2001).  The project managers will be able to reduce the risks which are associated with project failing to be completed. I also bring very close assessment of what is being required in a given project. The business manager will be able to plan the business and provide them with enough funds as per the budget.

On the other hand we also say that the critical path is also facing criticism because it is based on estimated figures that are taking a sample and assume it represent the whole population whereas in some cases population is not homogeneous. The critical path does not give 100 percent guarantee of project success. In cases where critical path has too many project it becomes difficult to understand the diagram as it become so complex.

Technical description for two different audiences

How a graphic card works

A graphic card refers to the computer component whose purpose is to display an image that is seen by the user.  In regard to computer video computing, a displayed image is usually a combination of numerous individual pixels and the graphic card commands the computer on what color and the amount of time needed to activate every pixel. In the absence of graphics card for necessary display of calculations, the computer would be unable to handle the resulting amount of workload.  The graphic card appearance is similar to a mother board, with circuit board which houses a RAM and a processor. It is therefore an input –out system chip capable of storing the settings and carry out diagnostics on the computer’s memory, output and input at startup (Wilson & Tyson, 2016).

The card consists of various components which includes a GPU (graphic processing unit) which appears like the central processing unit of a computer , a cooling and heatsink fan , a terminal for motherboard connection , A VRAM (video RAM) , wires and capacitors  and connection ports for monitor cable. The fan is necessary for ensuring that the device does not overheat while performing operations and calculations. The terminal for mother board connection acts as the actual link between the mother board and the graphics card itself. The card uses the connection to obtain power where there is no independent port for power connection (Bangia, 2005).  All the other components of the device are connected to this primary piece. The video RAM acts as the physical memory which stores images while the pictures are being processed and generated by the card. The work of the capacitors and wires is to assist in powering and timing of the cards operations and acts as the physical connection for resistance and power for the card.  In the process of image display, the Graphic Processing Unit performs the complex geometric calculations necessary for rendering the graphics given that it has high processing power. For analyzing and using data the GPU makes use of special programming and produce a highly improved image quality, it uses Full Screen Anti Aliasing whose work is to smooth 3D objects edges and Anisotropic Filtering that makes the image to appear crisper(Luebke & Humphreys, 2007).

 For the current 3D graphic card system, it synthesizes an image from a scene description for graphics such as video games that are real-life. This synthesis is normally expressed as a hardware pipeline which follows specialized phases.  Majority of these systems of real-time graphics work under the assumption that, everything is in triangular form, and any other complex shapes like patches of curved surface and quadrilaterals are curved up into triangles (Luebke & Humphreys, 2007).   The GPU first transforms all the objects into a single ordinary coordinate system. The representation of these each vertex of the objects in coordinates that are homogeneous, the whole hierarchy of transformation can be performed by the graphic system at the same time with one multiply of matrix-vector. At this stage the output is a steam of triangles that are expressed in 3D coordinate system whereby the viewer is paced at the origin and the view direction is aligned with Z-axis. Once every triangle is placed in the coordinate system, the GPU can select its color on the basis of   the lights in the relevant scene (Luebke & Humphreys, 2007). This way an image is expressed in accordance to the desired results. Having knowledge on graphic card is important given the changing technology in the development of GPUs of such cards.  

Illustration

Image source : http://www.songho.ca/opengl/gl_pipeline.html

How a graphic card works

The images seen on your monitor are made of very tiny dots referred to as pixels. At a common setting of a resolution, more than one million pixels are displayed on a screen and the computer has to make a decision on what to do with every single of such pixels so as an image is created. For this to happen, a translator is needed, which is something that can take binary data (commonly referred in description of bits and bytes) from the central processing unit and transform it into a picture that can be seen. Central processing unit can be described as the heart of a computer whether a laptop or a desktop (Arora, n.d.). Unless a computer possesses graphics capability which is built into its motherboard (an equipment where every part of a computer is tied together), the translation happens on a graphic card.  A graphic card is therefore a device that enables the computer to produces images that can be seen by the user (Wilson & Tyson, 2016).

 To have better understating, imagine a computer being a company having its art department. When a piece of work is needed by the employee in the company, a request is sent to this department. The art department then comes up with a way of how the image is to be created which is then put on a paper. What was initially a person’s idea becomes a picture that is actual and viewable.  The same principle can explain how a graphics card works in simple terms or language. The CPU works together with various software application and relays the information about the image or picture to the graphics card. It is the function of the card to decide the manner in which the pixels on the screen will be used in the creation of an image. The card uses a cable to send that information to a monitor. Using binary data to create an image is usually a demanding process (Wilson & Tyson, 2016).

In the creation of a 3-D image, a wire frame is first developed by the card. The graphic card makes the image into a pixel or raster image – by filling in pixels that are remaining. The card also adds color, texture and lighting of the image (Luebke & Humphreys, 2007). If the graphic card is not present in the carrying out the required computations, the computer would not manage the workload which would be too much. The card is able to carry out this task by the use of various components. A mother board provides a connection necessary for power and data in the creation of an image. The other component is a processor which decides what the card is going to do with every pixel on a computer screen. A graphic card memory holds the information about every pixel and also stores completed images temporarily. The monitor component allows the viewer to see the picture as the final result (Wilson & Tyson, 2016).  It is important to be interested in knowing such information about the graphic card because one may needed to buy or replace such a card.  

Illustration

Image source: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/graphics-card.htm

References

Luebke,D., Humphreys,G.(2007). How GPUs Work. Retrieved from: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/kim/courses/cs3330/notes/HowGPUsWork.pdf

Wilson, T., Tyson J. (2016). How Graphics Cards Work. Retrieved from: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/graphics-card.htm

Bangia, R. (2005). Multimedia and Web technology. New Delhi: Firewall Media. 541

Arora, A. (n.d.). Foundations of computer science.37

Open Source Intelligence

Open Source Intelligence is data information collected from publicly available Web which based on information which can be obtained ethically and legally from public sources. Open Source Intelligence is derived from social media, journal, newspaper, television, and radio. The Open Source Intelligence plays an important role in giving the national community security at a low cost consequently giving insight in the whole community. This forum is giving the details on what the government of United State doing to support the Open Source Intelligence. 

The government of United State is making Open Source Intelligence more effective by opening source intelligence repository. The repository is giving Open Source an intelligence that functions and create a center of excellence to the agencies of open source. Through the repository, open source intelligence is supported by the United State government in figuring and sneaking in foreign lands moreover infiltrating agencies of foreign government organizations with collected, filtered and organized information. With the creation of source intelligence repository by the government, data of more intelligence community are publicly available from a call of congress response (Jeffson 2).

The United State government is supporting Open Source Intelligence with training guidelines and recruitments which are a source of intelligence and effort. Guidelines and programs of training offered by the government have coordinated and conduct Open Source Intelligence effectively. In the course of training has enabled Open Course Intelligence to boost its national security since many employees are offered free training by the United State Government. Through training, it has neglected external non-digital unclassified information by the department which should be primary exploiters and collectors of open sources. Training has offer officials languages to the employees which make Open Source Intelligence to run efficiently without the language barrier. Through recruitment, Open Source Intelligence is able to select qualified employees (Douglas 16).

Open Source Intelligence is supported by the Unite State government by the provision of the fund. The government of United State is playing a vital role by supporting Open Source Intelligence with funding in support of acquisition, operations, logistic and policy. A lot of government of U.S fund has been used up in Open Source Intelligence on various aspects of national and military intelligence. Through the support of fund by the U.S government, the Open Source Intelligent has been able to open procurement of source information and exploitation. A fund that is given by the government of U.S to the Open Source Intelligence is spent in training and recruitment which has made the employees be more effectively. United State government have not only support the Open Source Intelligence with fund but also the employees with knowledge since they are able to learn more efficiently without any charge (Jeffson 2).

In briefly, Open Source Intelligence serves the whole community efficiently with security at a low rate charge. The United State government is giving Open Source Intelligence support by opening source intelligence repository which is the center of exceptional agencies of open source. The government of United State is offering recruitment and training to the employees which are the great support to the Open Source Intelligence. United State Government is providing finance to the Open Source Intelligence which is used in various aspects of military and national intelligence.

Work Cited

Jeffson JJ. Creating an Open Source Intelligence Capability. Military Intelligence             Professional Bulletin, 2005.  (31) 2.

Douglas P. DOD and the DNI Open Source Center — Building the Partnership, Military

            Intelligence Professional Bulletin, 2005. p. 16

Compare Different Threats and Vulnerabilities

Vulnerability refers to the flaw or the weakness in a given system that exposes an organization to both inside and outside attacks. This is done through the use of devices such as laptop, ignorant employees and USB drives who at most time unknowingly login to malicious sites. It is, therefore, important to take up the necessary steps in order to avoid system attacks (McNally, 2012). Threats occur when a person discovers the system vulnerability and want to attack it. Threat assessment helps a person to identify and know the best course of action to take. Former employees can motivate threats and they may want to put the company out of competition or get back to the company. Vulnerabilities include power loss and worms (Sammons & Cross, 2016).

Physical loss is the most common type of data breaches. This threat can happen in many ways as it involves physical threat of equipment that contains cardholder receipts, PCs, files, POS system or hard copy documents (Sammons & Cross, 2016). This type of breach can also be referred to as corporate espionage. It weakness arises when the device used is not stable, inappropriate storage environment which is subjected to dust which is harmful to software’s , infrastructure failure such as electricity, hardware malfunction such as for the PCs, human error and sabotage results vulnerability of the information (McNally, 2012).

The severity of these cases is that sensitive information is lost to individuals of malicious thoughts who tend to use the information for their own gain at the expense of the other person. It has also brought fear among individuals as they are not sure whether their information is safe as they stand a chance to lose every single coin they may have or their information is used to tarnish their names. Huge losses are also experienced by the company’s affecting their operations hence the adoption of various to curb down physical loss by limiting access to the physical information (McNally, 2012).

Electronic breach refers to the deliberate attack or unauthorized access on a system. The cardholder information is processed, transmitted or stored which can be done through websites or the web server’s access to the system vulnerability through the application of level attacks. The weakness of the system is exploited due to the large number of individuals that seek healthcare services daily (Sammons & Cross, 2016).

It, therefore, becomes an unfortunate target of the data breaches in which access to the network exposes the patient wealth billing information. Confidential client information is lost through the electronic breach where personal identifiers information, as well as personal financial information, is also lost. Such information exposes the involved person to huge losses as their details can be used somewhere else by the use of the financial information. Skimming entails recording and capturing of information in the magnetic stripe on the back of credit cards (McNally, 2012). The process involves the use of an external device which is stored at the point of sale without the knowledge of the individual assigned there. This form of data breach can also involve a dishonest employee who can be used to utilize the external devices mostly a skimmer to obtain information from the credit cards magnetic stripe from clients who are not keen to look at their credit cards when they are being swiped (Sammons & Cross, 2016).

Its severity leads to huge losses to the individual as the information obtained is used to make counterfeit credit cards and debit cards. They bear the burden of other people spending on their behalf of which they are expected to pay (Sammons & Cross, 2016).  Obtaining credit cards on behalf of the individual leads to huge indebtedness.

It tarnishes the name of the individual and the company if an employee is caught in the act.

Reference

McNally, M. M. (2012). Identity theft in today's world. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger.

Sammons, J., & Cross, M. (2016). The basics of cyber safety: Computer and mobile device safety made easy. Cambridge, MA : Syngress

            Different Topologies

In regard to communication, topologies can be described as the graphic representation of network arrangements which involves connecting lines as well as nodes. Topologies hold two different ways used in providing geometry network's description (Morley, 268). This, therefore, involves both logical and physical topology.  Topologic is the general geometric arrangement of networks which demonstrates the distinct way on the interconnection that exists between computers.

Logical topology refers to the conceptual network explanation and physical topology demonstrates the physical networks installation.  In other words, the logical topology can be termed as a diagram that is used to show data logical flow (Kandel, 65).  Topology is used to demonstrate the mode in which the waves of any network connect to distinct computers within the given network.  Physical topology is utilized in the provision of a description of the physical computers cables connection through the given network. This layout of the network is physically visible as it requires physical plugging (Kandel, 66).

Different topologies networks are utilizing several networks which mainly include ring, wireless, bus and star networks.   Bus topology is the easiest kind of topology as the networks local processors holds a similar channel of communication. The computer networks connections in this kind of topology are linked to a T connection (Morley, 270).  It, therefore, requires fewer efforts in installation. However, bus topology seems to be a disadvantage because it poses challenges when trying to establish issues and it cannot, therefore, be utilized by many users.  The star topology is a network which connects all the computer consumers to the main star topology. This implies that all the computers are directly linked to the network saver. The network type is expensive as it necessitates more cables to be utilized.

Ring topology connects local processor of the computer in the network ring on equal of more bases.  This kind of network is associated with less cost and it is widely used because it is characterized by reliability.  This is mainly because the breakdown of the network in a single computer does not affect the operation of the other.  Wireless topology is a logical kind as it is used to show the interaction and connection of computers that are within a certain network. This, therefore, does not show any physical connection as cables connection is not required (Peterson, Larry, and Bruce, 24).

Work Cited

            Kandel, Abraham. Applied Graph Theory in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition. Berlin: Springer, 2007. Print.

            Morley, Deborah, and Charles S. Parker. Understanding Computers: Today and Tomorrow. , 2015. Print.

            Peterson, Larry L, and Bruce S. Davie. Computer Networks: A Systems Approach. Burlington: Elsevier Science, 2011. Internet resource.

WORK BREAKDOWN AND DEVELOPMENT OF INVENTORY SYSTEM PROJECT

Research work breakdown structures and compare one created with MS Project and one created without software.

Work breakdown structure is considered a being a key project deliverable which assist in organizing the work of a team into manageable section. It thus defines all the scope of the project into understandable manner or providing definition and clear details. Therefore, by considering the one created by MS Project, what is noted is that it starts with a sole box or just to say other graphics at the top as a way of representing the whole project (Haugan, 2002). With it, it ends up dividing them into components which their related activities (elements) which are listed under them.  This then implies that it is an efficient means.

Contrary to that, the work breakdown structures which is developed without the use of software largely depends on writing it on hardcopies/ paper. This means is not efficient in the sense that in case adjustments are to be made on the copy regarding something omitted, it will require it to be started afresh hence making it much tedious. 

Justify which work breakdown structure you prefer and support your reasons.

Work breakdown structures created with MS Project. The reason for this is because it is a faster means of coming up with the work breakdown structure. On the other hand, it easier to make adjustments with the structure if need arises as the work or project continues.

Analyze the WBS created by the private company

Let’s take an example of a private company which deals with the building of desktop computers. Therefore, in the process of building them, the work breakdown structure will be of much importance since it is the one which will dictate the manner in which the work will be executed. Thus, as a way of making the work of building the desktop computers go faster, the WBS will be used in assigning teams into various aspects of building them (Norman et al, 2008). In this way, for instance, one team will be required to work on the configuration of the chassis while the other will be dealing with the securing of the components as shown in the diagram below

                                                DESKTOP COMPUTERS

Reference

Haugan, G. T. (2002). Effective work breakdown structures. Vienna, Va: Management Concepts.

Norman, E. S., Brotherton, S. A., & Fried, R. T. (2008). Work breakdown structures: The foundation for project management excellence. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.